


Don't You Dare

by just_chiara



Series: 13 Reasons Why Tumblr Ficlets [7]
Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Canon, Snow, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 07:04:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16057997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_chiara/pseuds/just_chiara
Summary: Alex is bored. He also can't stop thinking about kissing Zach.Set pre-series, during the winter break of their sophomore year.





	Don't You Dare

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr prompt: “Don’t you dare throw that snowba-, goddammit!”

Alex is wondering why he's here. He should have stayed home, at least he would have had videogames and a good Internet connection. If you're going to waste your life, you might as well be fucking entertained.

He looks down at the book sitting in his lap, open on the same page for the past twenty-five minutes now. He's bored out of his mind but too tired to do anything about it beside wallowing in self-pity. Sleep would help, but he's never going to hear the end of it if his friends come back from the ski slopes and find him asleep. Moving, doing something, anything, would also get him out of the state he's in, but it feels too hard right now. He doesn't have the energy for it.

A few weeks ago, when Bryce announced he was inviting all of them to spend a few days skiing with his family over winter break, Alex considered saying no. But he couldn't turn it down, now, could he? It was an honor to be invited. So many people at school would have killed for that opportunity. He was trying so hard to fit in, be part of the group. Turning down Bryce's invitation would have sounded like he thought he was cooler than a fucking ski trip and Bryce wouldn't have that. Also, the ski trip was probably all Bryce and his friends would talk about for the next few weeks: he needed to be here so he could be a part of those conversations and jokes. Even though all he was doing was hanging out on the couch pretending to read.

The door slams open. Cold air touches Alex's skin and he shivers.

“Dude, close that fucking door!” he says, without bothering to look to see who opened it. It takes him half a second to realize it could be Bryce's parents. He hastily turns around: it's Zach. Crisis averted.

“Relax, it's me.” Zach crosses the room in five steps, takes off his jacket and drops on the couch next to Alex.

“Just you?”

“Yeah, the others are still on the slopes. they won't be back for a while,” Zach replies.

Alex takes advantage of the fact that his friend is staring at the wall in front of him to let his eyes linger on Zach's profile, on the curve of his shoulders, on his chest rising and falling with every breath. He knows what it feels like, being pressed between the wall and Zach's strong body. He remembers all too well what Zach's mouth tastes like.

“Tired already?” he teases.

“Fuck you. No, I'm not,” Zach says. He turns his head and Alex quickly looks away. If Zach notices, he doesn't say anything. Instead, he explains: “I'm going to tell you a secret. I _hate_ skiing. I don't get why Bryce loves it so much. What were you doing anyway?”

Alex closes his book and puts it down. “Just... nothing really.”

Zach nods and Alex feels like he gets it.

“Let's go outside,” Zach decides.

He gets up. Alex just looks at him, clearly showing no interest in moving from his current spot on the couch.

Bryce would grab his arm and tell him, “You're coming.” Monty would tease him about acting like he's 70, or maybe about being too weak, and Alex would give in just to make him shut up. Zach, instead, puts his sweetest smile on his lips and says, “C'mon, Standall. Just a walk. Nothing extreme, I promise.”

“Fine,” Alex says. He reluctantly gets up.

Neither of them is familiar with the area so they just walk around, without heading anywhere in particular. The silence between them is comfortable enough. Alex would never admit it, but the fresh air and the physical activity are doing wonders for his state of mind. Or maybe it's Zach. Not that he would ever admit that either. He finds himself thinking again about the drunk kisses they shared last week. He knows he cannot blame the alcohol: he wanted to kiss Zach, had wanted to for weeks. He wonders if Zach feels the same or if it was just the beer. He wonders if Zach even remembers. He wonders how he would react if Alex kissed him right now, in the middle of the day, when they're sober. Would he push him away? Would he allow Alex to kiss him out of kindness? Or would he kiss Alex back?

Zach's voice pulls him out of his thoughts: “I'm hungry, let's find a place where we can eat something.”

“Sure.”

Alex follows him down a narrow street into the snow-covered town square. Zach bumps his arm into him: lightly enough not to make him fall but hard enough to get his attention.

He's smiling when Alex looks up to give him a long-suffering stare. “What?”

Zach shrugs. “All good? You're quiet today.”

“Yeah, just tired,” Alex says. It's the truth, just not the whole truth. But how does he tell Zach that he can't stop thinking about the other night when he doesn't even know if Zach remembers it? “You know, I'd never walked in the snow before.”

“Yeah? What do you think?”

“I think it's overrated.”

Zach laughs. “Agreed.”

Alex looks away. Being around Zach is harder than it was before. Before that night, before the kisses. Before sneaking his hands under Zach’s t-shirt and feeling the strong muscles of his back under his fingers. Before grinding their hips together and hearing a moan come out of Zach's perfect lips.

He's so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't realize what Zach is doing until it's too late.

“Oh, no, Zach. Don't you dare. Don’t you dare throw that snowba-"

But Zach does. Happily. He's got perfect aim too, of course.

“Oh, fuck you, Dempsey!”

And then Zach's laughing and Alex is trying to be mad at him but it's hard, especially when Zach looks at him that way. “How old are you?” he says, doing his best to sound annoyed.

“You didn't ask that last week,” Zach replies. Something in his voice lets Alex know that he's really talking about _that_ night, about their drunk make-out session in the back of Bryce's pool house. So he remembers. Even more surprising to Alex, he's bringing it up.

“My mouth was kinda busy that night,” Alex dares to say. There is no point in hiding now, is there?

Zach quite evidently wasn't expecting him to be so direct and for a moment Alex thinks he's going to use the alcohol they drank as an excuse. But he doesn't. “I'm glad you didn't. I liked what you were doing with your mouth.”

They're both feeling bold today, apparently. “I liked what you did with your hands,” Alex says.

“Would you ever maybe want to do that again? Maybe?”

He's trying to sound confident but the second _Maybe_ betrays his nervousness. Alex finds his insecurity sexy rather than off-putting: it implies he, Alex Standall, is making none other than Zach Dempsey nervous.

“Yeah, sure.”

“How about tonight? I think I can kick Justin out of our room.”

Zach glances quickly at him. Alex never thought he'd see Zach being shy. Never thought he'd _make_ Zach shy. He gets closer to him. “How about right now?”

Zach doesn't reply. Instead, he takes Alex's hand and starts walking back to the house. They've got hours before their friends come back from the slopes and the realization runs down Alex's spine. It’s thrilling and scary and exhilarating.

“I thought you said you were hungry,” he jokes.

“I thought you weren't up for any physical activity,” Zach shoots back.

They're walking fast and Alex is struggling to keep up with Zach's long legs but wouldn't dream of asking him to slow down. Zach looks at him from over his shoulder and they smile at each other.

Ski trips can be kind of amazing, they realize.


End file.
